| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: kinsman, nor any one is able to deliver into your hands the power which you
desire, but I only, God being my helper. When you were young (compare
Symp.) and your hopes were not yet matured, I should have wasted my time,
and therefore, as I conceive, the God forbade me to converse with you; but
now, having his permission, I will speak, for now you will listen to me.
ALCIBIADES: Your silence, Socrates, was always a surprise to me. I never
could understand why you followed me about, and now that you have begun to
speak again, I am still more amazed. Whether I think all this or not, is a
matter about which you seem to have already made up your mind, and
therefore my denial will have no effect upon you. But granting, if I must,
that you have perfectly divined my purposes, why is your assistance
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: A long moment, and then, "Must I ask for it?" I breathed.
She jerked her head up sharply.
"You do not want it," she said dryly.
I raised my hand, groping for her fingers, but could not find
them. She saw, and slowly, very slowly, her hand crept to mine and
was caught and held there.
"Desiree--I want it," I said half fiercely, and I forgot my
pain and our danger--forgot everything but her white face in dim
outline above me, and her eyes, glowing and tender against her
wish, and her hand that nestled in my hand. "Be merciful to me--I
want it as I have never wanted anything in my life. Desiree, I
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: "Mem." II. i. 24.
[27] i.e. "body and character."
Ay, and in the enjoyment of external beauty a sort of surfeit is
engendered. Just as the eater's appetite palls through repletion with
regard to meats,[28] so will the feelings of a lover towards his idol.
But the soul's attachment, owing to its purity, knows no satiety.[29]
Yet not therefore, as a man might fondly deem, has it less of the
character of loveliness.[30] But very clearly herein is our prayer
fulfilled, in which we beg the goddess to grant us words and deeds
that bear the impress of her own true loveliness.[31]
[28] Cf. "Mem." III. xi. 13.
The Symposium |
